The fascinating mountain world along the Black Sea
From Amasya, the city of intellectuals, to some
Christian church monuments of various origin, Greek, Byzantine and Georgian in the
fascinating world of the Kaçkar mountains.
By Heidi Trautmann
Amasya, capital of the Pontic Empire founded by
Mithridates I in 281 BC which lasted until its conquest by the Romans in 63 BC.
The kings found their final resting place in tombs in the steep walls above our
hotel. They were of noble Greek and Persian origin and lived secluded in a
fortified place on top of steep hills in the narrow ravine easy to defend. It is homeland to the famous geographer,
historian and philosopher Strabo (64 BC – 24AD) who was a keen traveler, for
example as far as Tuscany to the west and to Egypt along the Nile. For many
years he was working on his book ‘Geography’ from which extensive knowledge
about those times is drawn. Amasya, an exquisite place, with the typical architecture
of Ottoman houses along the river banks, its many beautiful mosques and
medresses, a place of education where the young men of many imperial dynasties
were educated, where artists, poets, scientists and philosophers came from and
are drawn to, a place of mild climate, only 60 km away from the coast. The
banks of the river were crowded in the evening where it was cool and lovely
with the opposite side, the tombs and
the antique houses illuminated in all colours of the rainbow, I preferred the
pale green, though, mystic.
From here our programme took us back to the coast,
towards Ordu; on the way a short visit of the old city of Tokat for a coffee
break in the lovely caravanserai. However, it holds an important position in
history. Tokat was established in the Hittite era. During the time of king Mithradates VI of Pontus, it was one of his many strongholds in Asia
Minor. Later it came under the control of the Seljuks and
finally the Ottomans. A fine city, I
would like to see more of it.
The Black Sea is grey, with or without sunshine, the coast
is mountainous, so the better living areas are mostly all up in the hills. I
have hardly seen any beaches or beach life, the ports are small and used by
fisher boats. Sea and mountain climate come together and create a damp
atmosphere good for industrial farming. From Amasya down to Ordu we saw the
hills grown over with hazelnut bushes, that is the main farming industry here; hazelnut
products in all forms. Although we stayed at a hotel at the coast nothing
invited me to dip my toe into the Black Sea.
The next day’s programme is full of exciting
expectations, witnesses of the past: the Hagia Sofia in Trabzon and the Sumela
Monastery in the Altindere National Park. When the Byzantine imperial family
had to leave Constantinople they established their exile empire in Trabzon and
as they missed their church, the Hagia Sofia, they built a small copy of it in
Trabzon. It is a beautiful church, with wall paintings thought as the most
significant Byzantine frescoes; part of the church is being used for Muslim
prayer service, which in my opinion is ok, it is a God’s House as long as the
ancient past is being respected and not demolished. Touristic traffic is rather
heavy around the church so the municipality are extending the area, backfilling
the hill and creating space for the many busses.
We continue uphill again, away from the coast into the
narrow canyons where the several stories high Sumela Monastery literally hangs
on the steep canyon walls at 1300 m height. We cannot see it but are made aware
of its closeness by the masses of tourists on foot, men, women, children, in
rain coats as it is the fog that comes down on us like soft rain. The ascent on
the slippery path is not easy but worth the effort with all the walls inside fully
covered with paintings. For centuries pilgrims used to come up here to the
place dedicated to the Virgin Mary. It has an absolutely long and mysterious
story and was restored many times in the course of the many empires reigning in
that part.
We got a good night’s rest in a small place nearby, in
Maçka, busy with the many monastery tourists coming through.
The next day would be a long day, so we took some food
for our picnic along, good village bread and a big chunk of mountain cheese,
local fruit, nuts and excellent tomatoes. On our way to Yusufeli – first we had
to go back to the coast and turn off into one of the next canyons – we would
come to the pass at the height of 2600 m where we saw some snow in the folds of
the mountains. The fog that had come along
with us all morning stopped abruptly and the blue sky came out; the vegetation changed from jungle atmosphere
to bleak stony fields and naked rock walls, naked due to erosion. That is the
west side of the mountain range that gets all the moisture. A fascinating
world.
We arrived at the Choron river and the canyon of hell.
For most part of our trip road constructions were underway, i.e. a new road was
being built with many tunnels due to the visionary plans to one day belong to
the ten mightiest industrial nations of the world; one day is to be in 2023,
that is in ten years’ time. The magic word is energy; energy by water – and water
is aplenty in the Kaçkar mountains (southern part of the Caucasus mountains) –
with the winter season starting in October. Rivers, rivulets, brooks, water
falls, on the way down, good for trouts, many trout farms we saw along our way,
wild waters good for rafting, all that will be gone when the plan of 17 dams
along the Choron is realised, the beauty being channelled. The people that live
here are against it, thousands of people would have to be, most probably will
be moved, alone 17 000 from the Yusufeli area.
The people of the area are the Laz, an ethnic group of
the Black Sea and the South Caucasian Mountains, Georgians converted to Islam
in Ottoman times; a proud people, proud of their homeland. The land we were
driving through is breathtaking, the feeling of witnessing the beginning of our
earth with all the windings and upheavals of rock in those vertical reddish walls
on both sides of our way accompanied by the music of the river always present,
sometimes loud sometimes a distant murmur.
Into this several million years old beauty man is cutting
his way with enormous machines, with bulldozers hanging in the walls, with an
endless amount of tunnels drilled through the mountains, with one dam finished
and so many more to come to put the river into chains to control its power for
the use of mankind, of industry. Lakes are already forming with villages
disappearing, one barrage lake has a length of eighty kilometres, wilderness
tamed. Part of our way is on the new road much higher than the assumed height
of the barrage lake, but the whole is an endless construction site, it takes us
hours to get through, when bulldozers are moving the debris resulting from the controlled
blasts. What can one say. On the one hand I admire the work as such, things the
human mind is able to do and move, literally move mountains, but on the other
hand it makes me feel frightened of the consequences. We have proof enough that
man-handled changes in nature have not brought any good, for example with
respect to the change of sensitive climate zones.
Shortly before our destination of the day we turn off and
follow another brook into yet another deep and inspiring valley to visit a
Georgian old church of the 10th century overgrown and hidden by
trees, a witness of another great time, of the worship of Georgian monks who
believed that God is great and that his house must be a great one. Classic Georgian
architecture. A group of young Georgians gather in the middle of the church
with some daylight filtering through the ceiling, and they start singing
acapella, it is very touching and we come closer to be within the reach of this
charm spread by the professional voices. They tell us that they were to give a
concert in a Turkish city near the border.
That night our dreams were full of music, the Georgian
choir mixed with the brawl of the river Choron below our hotel window.
In Part III we
go across the border to smell Georgian air and spend some days with the kind
mountain people before we have a last cup of tea with a tea specialist in Rize.
Responsible for the planning and organisation: http://www.zypernreisen.com/en/index.htm
For more photos please refer to my website www.heiditrautmann.com